Day 7 – Our Farewell to Yosemite

This was our last day in the park. We finally did what we talked about this week: got up early to walk along the Merced River. We saw a couple American Dippers looking for their breakfast in the water and watched the early morning sun slowly creep down the cliffs above us. The light illuminated Yosemite Falls in a way we hadn’t seen before. Every minute we spent in that place was a gift.

Morning on the Merced River

After breakfast we checked out of Curry Village and found Yosemite had one more present for us – The Tioga Road was open!

The road runs through the higher mountain passes and had been closed all week because of the snow we had received. The road runs through the famous Toulumne Meadowns and opened up a host of quieter hiking options. Because it had been closed to us, it had taken on an almost mythical quality and now we were fired up to explore it.

With a four hour drive to San Jose still ahead of us, our hiking options were limited. We had lunch at Tenaya Lake and then eschewed the crowds by doing a hike through the meadows and along the Toulumne River.

Tenaya Lake and Tenaya Peak

We climbed the unheralded Puppy Dome, where we got views of the much more crowded Lembert Dome and the Toulumne Meadows from above. A golden eagle soared above the meadows looking for a late lutch while in a nearby tree a Clark’s Nutcracker croacked out his raspy call. The sky was a cerulean blue and all around were snow-capped peaks. Since we had arrived in the rain on Tuesday, Yosemite had been gradually displaying its charms to us, culminating in this grand view of beauty and solitude.

In Toulumne Meadows with Lembert Dome on the left, snow-capped Mammouth Peak on the right and a happy easterner on the rock